Payment cards such as credit or debit cards are ubiquitous. For decades, such cards have included a magnetic stripe on which the relevant account number is stored. To consummate a purchase transaction with such a card, the card is swiped through a magnetic stripe reader that is part of a point of sale (POS) terminal. The reader reads the account number from the magnetic stripe. The account number is then used to route a transaction authorization request that is initiated by the POS terminal.
In pursuit of still greater convenience and more rapid transactions at POS terminals, payment cards have more recently been developed that allow the account number to be automatically read from the card by radio frequency communication between the card and a so-called “proximity reader” which may be incorporated with the POS terminal. In such cards, often referred to as “proximity payment cards” or “contactless payment cards”, a radio frequency identification (RFID) integrated circuit (IC, often referred to as a “chip”) is embedded in the card body. A suitable antenna is also embedded in the card body and is connected to the RFID chip to allow the chip to receive and transmit data by RF communication via the antenna. In typical arrangements, the RFID chip is powered from an interrogation signal that is transmitted by the proximity reader and received by the card antenna.
MasterCard International Incorporated, the assignee hereof, has established a widely-used standard, known as “PayPass™”, for interoperability of proximity payment cards and proximity readers. Other proximity payment schemes are also increasingly in use.
It has been proposed that the capabilities of a contactless payment card be incorporated into mobile devices, such as a mobile telephone, thereby turning the mobile device into a contactless payment device. One issue that is raised by this proposal is how to load the payment card account number and other account-specific or device-specific information into a mobile telephone; this process is referred to as “personalization”. As a result of a multiplicity of form factors, mobile telephones cannot be readily subjected to the same type or kind of automated personalization process that contactless payment cards typically undergo. It also may present logistical problems to transport a mobile telephone to be configured as a contactless payment device to a personalization facility either after the user has purchased the phone, or before placing the phone in a typical mobile telephone distribution channel. It has therefore been proposed to personalize mobile telephones/contactless payment card devices while the devices are in the user's possession via “over the air” (OTA) data communication, which means by data communication via the mobile telephone network in which the phone operates.
However, many OTA personalization processes for mobile telephones/contactless payment devices can be time consuming and inconvenient for consumers. For example, in some situations, the OTA personalization process for certain payment applications can take over twenty (20) minutes to complete. Further, despite attempts to simplify the OTA personalization process, many consumers still find the process awkward and/or confusing. It thus would be desirable to provide a personalization process for mobile telephones/contactless payment devices that is quick, convenient and secure.